Tenneco Gmbh

Federal-mogul Corporation

Federal-mogul World Wide, Inc.

Mahle Technology, Inc.

Norbert Schneider

Michael Weinenger

Thomas M Harris

Wolfgang Rein

Ross Gladwin

Patrick Gyetvay

Bartholomew Christopher

José Rebello

A steel piston designed to improve thermal efficiency, fuel consumption, and performance of an engine is provided. The piston includes a steel body portion and a thermal barrier layer applied to an upper combustion surface and/or a ring belt to reduce the amount of heat transferred from a combustion chamber to the body portion. The thermal barrier layer has a thermal conductivity which is lower than a thermal conductivity of the steel body portion. The thermal barrier layer typically includes a ceramic material, for example ceria, ceria stabilized zirconia, and/or a mixture of ceria stabilized zirconia and yttria stabilized zirconia in an amount of 90 to 100 wt. %, based on the total weight of the ceramic material. The thermal barrier layer can also have a gradient structure which gradually transitions from 100 wt. % of a metal bond material to 100 wt. % of the ceramic material.

Insulation layer on steel pistons

A piston for an internal combustion engine which includes a crown having spiral features designed to increase swirl of combustion gases in a cylinder of the engine is provided. The spiral features can be located in a combustion surface or in a combustion bowl of the crown. The increased swirl of the combustion gases is expected to improve mixing of the air and fuel injected into the cylinder, and thus cause the fuel to burn more completely, achieve better efficiency out of the injected fuel, and reduce unburned hydrocarbons in the exhaust gas.

Piston including spiral features to increase in-cylinder swirl

A piston for a high temperature internal combustion engine is provided. The piston includes an upper wall, base wall, outer rib, and inner rib defining a cooling chamber therebetween, and a plurality of ring grooves formed in the outer rib. Only the second ring groove is formed with the keystone cross-section, and all of the other ring grooves are formed with the conventional rectangular cross-section. Thus, the piston can be formed with low manufacturing costs and can also provide exceptional performance when used in high temperature combustion engines, wherein the temperature at the first ring groove is greater than 280&#xb0; C., and thus prevents carbon from depositing or burns off any carbon deposits, but the temperature at the second ring groove is between 200&#xb0; C. and 280&#xb0; C., in which case carbon deposits can form and cause the piston ring to stick.

Piston with keystone second ring groove for high temperature internal combustion engines

A piston for an internal combustion engine is provided. The piston includes an open inner cooling area in which the undercrown surface is exposed, and an annular outer cooling gallery. The piston also includes an oil outlet scoop for local cooling of the undercrown surface of the piston. The outer cooling gallery includes an oil outlet opening, and the oil outlet scoop is beneath and vertically aligned with the oil outlet opening. The oil outlet scoop includes a concave surface facing the oil outlet opening. During operation, oil exits the oil outlet opening, and the oil outlet scoop catches the exiting oil and directs the oil to the inner cooling area and the exposed undercrown surface.

Piston with enhanced undercrown cooling

A piston for an internal combustion engine including a cooling gallery and a complex combustion surface is provided. The piston includes an upper crown member joined to a lower member, for example by hybrid induction welding. A complex combustion bowl is formed in the upper crown member by forging. The combustion bowl includes at least one protrusion, and typically a plurality of protrusions spaced from one another. After the forging step and before the joining step, portions of an undercrown surface located opposite the spaces between the protrusions are machined, and portions located directly opposite the protrusions are left as-forged. The crown member is joined to the lower member, for example by hybrid induction welding.

Complex-shaped forged piston oil galleries

A galleryless steel piston designed to improve thermal efficiency, fuel consumption, and performance of an engine is provided. The piston includes a steel body portion and a thermal barrier layer applied to an upper combustion surface and/or a ring belt to reduce the amount of heat transferred from a combustion chamber to the body portion. The thermal barrier layer has a thermal conductivity which is lower than a thermal conductivity of the steel body portion. The thermal barrier layer typically includes a ceramic material, for example ceria, ceria stabilized zirconia, and/or a mixture of ceria stabilized zirconia and yttria stabilized zirconia in an amount of 90 to 100 wt. %, based on the total weight of the ceramic material. The thermal barrier layer can also have a gradient structure which gradually transitions from 100 wt. % of a metal bond material to 100 wt. % of the ceramic material.

Insulation layer on steel pistons without gallery

A steel piston with an oil gallery, and process for forming a steel piston oil gallery channel, which corresponds to the complex shape of the combustion bowl in the piston crown. The oil gallery channel is first forged to the basic shape that corresponds to the shape of the walls of the combustion bowl. Machine-turning surfaces in the oil gallery channel can be machine-finished as desired. Surfaces in the oil gallery which cannot be machined with conventional turning operations, such as recesses and protrusions into the channel, are left in the original forged condition.

A piston for an internal combustion engine has an upper crown portion with a pair of pin bosses depending therefrom, wherein the pin bosses have pin bores axially aligned along a central pin bore axis. A pair of laterally spaced skirt portions are fixedly attached to the pin bosses and depend to a lowermost free edge. At least one of the skirt portions has a recess extending upwardly from the lowermost free edge beyond the central axis of the pin bores.

Monobloc piston with a low friction skirt

A steel piston with an oil gallery, and process for forming a steel piston oil gallery channel, which corresponds to the complex shape of the combustion bowl in the piston crown. The piston crown is made by a cast metal or powder metal forming process. The oil gallery channel is formed to the basic shape that corresponds to the shape of the walls of the combustion bowl. Machine-turning surfaces in the oil gallery channel can be machine-finished as desired. Surfaces in the oil gallery which cannot be machined with conventional turning operations, such as recesses and protrusions into the channel, are left in the original as-formed condition.

Pistons with complex shaped piston crowns and manufacturing processes

Complex-shaped piston oil galleries with piston crowns made by cast metal or powder metal processes

A piston has an upper crown portion with an upper combustion wall against which combustion forces act and a lower crown portion with a pair of pin bosses spaced for receipt of a small end of a connecting rod therebetween. The upper crown portion and the lower crown portion form an outer oil gallery and a central oil gallery in fluid communication with one another. The central oil gallery is formed in part by an annular flange extending radially inwardly from the outer oil gallery and upwardly toward the upper combustion wall to a free edge spaced from the upper combustion wall. The free edge forms an opening about a central axis of the piston and has a non-planar uppermost surface with depressions aligned diametrically opposite one another across the opening to improve the oil flow throughout the central oil gallery.

Piston having a central cooling gallery with a contoured flange

A connecting rod for a piston assembly includes first and second guidance members for guiding a piston assembly within a cylinder during piston stroke along a first axis. The guidance members are supported by first and second support ribs extending from a shaft of the connecting rod and include first and second sliding surfaces for contacting side walls of the cylinder. The connecting rod includes an attachment boss disposed at a first end of the shaft and defines a second axis perpendicular to the first axis. The first and second support ribs extend radially outwardly from the attachment boss and are spaced radially about the second axis by approximately 180 degrees.

Small end con rod guidance piston

The present invention relates to a connecting rod and piston pin assembly for an internal combustion engine to improve wear of the piston/connecting rod pivot point and reduce deformation of the pin bore. To this end, the assembly includes a piston having a pin bore, a connecting rod having a bore adapted to be aligned with the piston pin bore and piston pin interconnecting the piston and the connecting rod through engaging their respective bores. The piston pin has a profiled outer circumference that is substantially circular in cross-section with a larger diameter at the distal ends than at the center portion. One end of the connecting rod includes a phosphatized coating and is adapted to facilitate movement between the connecting rod bore and the profiled piston pin.

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Ann Arbor, MI, United States of America

Norbert Schneider